The Year It All Began
by Kate-The-Great-And-Powerful
Summary: A collection of 74th Hunger Games one-shots. The famous "Feast Scene" from Thresh's POV. Clove asks Glimmer to join the Career Pack.
1. My Last Chance

**This is my first time writing from a canon character's point of view :) It most likely won't be my last :D I hope you like it!**

**Oh, and Suzanne Collins owns The Hunger Games and all of its characters.**

My Last Chance

"Now hold on. Some of you may already be declining my invitation," says Templesmith. They must be watching us all closely for a reaction.

"But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately. Each of you will find that something in a backpack, marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance." The arena is silent. All I can hear are the tall stalks of grass around me, blowing against each other in the wind.

_Some of you may already be declining my offer._ Was that for me? Was I thinking about turning it down? Maybe then, but not anymore.

_Each of you needs something desperately. _I do need something desperately. A weapon. There are six of us left. Cato and his district partner could start hunting me down any day now.

_For some of you, this will be your last chance._ This far into the Games, there's only one way to get what I need. I have to come out of hiding. I have to go to the feast. I have to face the other five tributes.

Some time before dawn, I set out for the Cornucopia. Before I go, I pick up a good-sized rock from the edge of my clearing. There's no use going in there completely defenseless. I take one last look at my camp and start wading into the grass.

Just as I'm nearing the gleaming golden horn, there's a flash of red hair and a girl sprints past, clutching a small green backpack marked with a 5. Before I have time to react, she disappears as quickly as she came. Suddenly, I hear some angry shouting behind her and know that she's being followed. I run for the brush and try to conceal myself in the branches.

"Hey! Get back here!" yells a furious-looking Career as he crashes through the brush. Luckily, the girl's pursuer is too preoccupied to notice my lousy hiding place. He stops to catch his breath less than five feet away from me.

Through the leaves, I recognize the tribute as Cato. He takes a look around and curses under his breath when he can't find the girl. But he must catch sight of something through the trees, because he starts running again.

I come out of the bushes and walk the short distance to the edge of the Cornucopia clearing. I'm facing the tail of the horn, so I can't see what's happening in front. I can hear something going on, though, most likely the other tributes battling over the remaining backpacks. Since Cato and the redheaded girl are probably far away by now, the only tributes I need to worry about are the boy from Twelve, the girl from Two, and Fire Girl.

As I come around the edge of the horn, I can see a table was placed just inside. Sitting on top are two backpacks, numbered 11 and 2. I can also see two tributes, in the middle of a fight. The girl from Two has Fire Girl pinned to the ground. She hasn't noticed me yet, since she's busy selecting one knife out of the many lining her jacket. As she finally picks one and holds it up to Fire Girl's face, I slowly walk towards the table, hoping I'll be ignored. But when I'm reaching for my pack, something Knife Girl says catches my attention.

"Forget it, District Twelve," she says with a laugh, "We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally…what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy. How does that sound?" She keeps talking to her victim, but I don't hear a word. Rue. The little girl I got to know in the week before the Games began. The little girl who flew from tree to tree in the orchards of District Eleven, spreading a tune with the mockingjays to tell us when we could go back home. The little girl who the Capitol audience only knows as one of the two most recent deaths in the Games.

"All right then," says Knife Girl, "Let's get started." Without thinking, I yank her off of Fire Girl. She screams as she's lifted into the air. I flip her around and throw her onto the ground at my feet.

"What'd you do to that little girl?" I shout, "You kill her?" Knife Girl frantically scrambles back on all fours, staring up at me in shock.

"No! No, it wasn't me!" she says, shaking her head.

"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her?" I ask again. I remember what she was about to do to Fire Girl. Could she have killed Rue like that? The thought of Rue being cut to pieces by one of the Career girl's knives enrages me even more.

"You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?" I demand.

"No! No, I— " The girl pauses, her eyes widening as she sees the rock in my hand. "Cato!" she shrieks, "Cato!" She's given up denying it. She killed Rue.

"Clove!" her district partner calls, but he's still far away. I bring down the rock against Knife Girl's head, and she crumples to the ground. No cannon has sounded; she's still alive, but fading fast. I turn on Fire Girl, holding up the rock. She doesn't move a muscle, petrified with terror.

"What'd she mean?" I ask, "About Rue being your ally?" She opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. After a moment, she swallows her fear and answers.

"I—I—we teamed up," she stammers, "Blew up the supplies. I tried to save her, I did. But he got there first. District One."

"And you killed him?" I demand. She nods.

"Yes. I killed him. And buried her in flowers," she says, "I sang her to sleep." Tears begin to roll down her face.

"To sleep?" I say gruffly.

"To death," she says, "I sang until she died. Your district…they sent me bread." She reaches up to wipe her nose. "Do it fast, okay, Thresh?" I look at the rock in my hand. There's only six of us, five if you don't count Clove, who's barely alive. I have to kill Fire Girl if I want to get home. But she was Rue's ally. She tried to save my district partner, and sang to her as she died. I can't kill her. I have to let her go. I owe her that much. I lower my rock and point at her.

"Just this one time, I let you go," I tell her, "For the little girl. You and me, we're even now. No more owed. You understand?" She nods solemnly. I can't believe I'm doing this. She still has to die if I'm going to make it home.

"Clove!" Cato's pained voice is much closer now. Even though we can't see him, I know he can see his district partner on the ground. I turn back to the girl from Twelve.

"You'd better run now, Fire Girl," I tell her. She nods, grabbing her tiny backpack and getting to her feet. She starts to sprint away, and I take my backpack from the table. As Cato reaches the Cornucopia, taking no notice of me, I grab the District Two backpack as well. Before I can have any second thoughts, I take off for the field again. Cato isn't following. I hear his voice behind me, begging Clove to stay with him. As soon as the cannon sounds, I regret killing her. Not only because I never wanted to be forced into this; forced to commit murder just so I could come home alive. Clove had a life back home, friends and family who are crying for her. She had Cato, too. And now he has another reason to come after me.

**How did I do? Please please please review! I love hearing your comments :D**


	2. Allies

**AN: Another 74****th**** Games one-shot :) Sorry for the confusion, I just wanted to add this one to My Last Chance and put these one-shots all in one place :) Hope you like it!**

Allies

Clove's POV

"Let's make some allies," says Cato with a grin, scanning the Training Center.

"The boy from One's in, right?" I ask him. I have to search for the right name a while before remembering. "Marvel?"

"Yeah, he's in," says Cato, "He said his partner would probably join, too. You talk to her, I'll talk to District Eleven?"

"Yeah," I say, "Good plan. What about Four?"

"I'll ask her," says Marvel, coming up behind us. Cato nods, and we go our separate ways.

I spot Glimmer, alone at the knot-tying station, and take a seat beside her. Knot-tying. What an unusual choice. From this decision, I can tell immediately she doesn't have her priorities straight. Probably not the smartest tribute we'll encounter. She's good at knot-tying, though. It's never been my strong point, but her fingers fly through complicated ties with ease. I watch, slightly impressed.

"Nice ring," I say. I point at the piece of jewelry on her finger, a gold band with a sparkling green stone. "Your token?" Glimmer looks up from her rope and nods.

"Yeah," she says with a smile, "Really reminds me of home." She twists the gemstone, and a little spike pops out the top. I raise an eyebrow, wondering how this could possibly remind her of her home.

"And it's poisoned," she says, grinning like it's the funniest thing, "It doesn't matter who I fight, they'll be out of the Games after one punch." I laugh. She's more of a fighter than Cato and I gave her credit for.

"Hand-to-hand combat, huh? That's your specialty?" I ask. A strange look crosses her face, and her smile vanishes. She shakes her head quickly, staring at the table.

"No…Bow and arrows," she says. I fold my arms. Glimmer doesn't notice. She twists the stone on her ring again, and the spike disappears from sight.

"You can't tell anyone about my token," she mumbles, changing the subject.

"I wouldn't do that to an ally," I say, "We are allies, right?" Glimmer blinks.

"Yeah," she says finally, "Allies."

"Good," I say, standing up again. The girl from District One goes back to knot-tying immediately, and I walk to the swords station to find Cato, who is tearing apart one of the practice dummies.

"How did it go with Eleven?" I say. Cato stops when he hears me ask, and throws his sword to the rack carelessly. I could've guessed it didn't go well.

"He's not joining," he says, probably louder than he meant to. Back in District Two, Cato was notorious for having a short fuse. And right now, he looks like he's about to explode.

"Hey," I say, "We don't need him as an ally. We're good enough on our own, right?" Cato nods, still glaring in the direction of the boy from Eleven. I tap him on the shoulder, and he turns back around.

"Glimmer's joining the pack, and Marvel's talking to the girl from Four now. We're going to be fine." I give him a half-smile, which he returns.

"Let's go train," he says, "Axes? We have an hour until lunch." The old Cato is back. I almost laugh.

"Yeah, axes," I agree. We start walking to the station, and I wonder whether our alliance will be enough. It must be. Not many of the tributes this year will be particularly difficult to defeat. It's just a gut feeling I have, that maybe we have cause to worry.

For once, I'm out to prove myself wrong.

**Please review! The next chapter: The girl from Eight sets a fire...**


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